For building owners and managers, data is the fuel behind their smart building operations. Leveraging the surplus of data that is readily available to them, owners and managers are making informed decisions for their facility that can create long-term performance enhancements and help them achieve goals such as improved efficiency and occupant comfort. Here is how to ensure your data is providing trustworthy insights.

Through the latest innovations in AI and machine learning, data is being mined in more significant volumes.

The data is allowing decisions to be made even faster. But as facility owners and managers become more dependent on this data to drive operations and make critical facility decisions, two essential questions remain:

1. How can they ensure their data is trustworthy?
2. How can they guarantee that the decisions they are making are backed by reliable, secure information and providing correct insights?

Fortunately, there are three steps facility owners, and managers can take to ensure the data from their smart buildings can be trusted to provide accurate insights into building and equipment operations:

Maintain a transparent pathway to data.

A critical component of achieving data trustworthiness is ensuring facility owners and managers have consistent access to raw data. Regardless of where the data is coming from – a single sensor or an entire building of integrated systems – maintaining a transparent pathway plays an integral role.

The role of the data allows owners and managers to engage in smart facility management and ensure their data’s authenticity and quality daily. This level of transparency and access to data is particularly crucial during time-sensitive events such as equipment failures or malfunctions.

To achieve this high level of transparency and access to data, facility owners and managers can invest in systems management technology that digitally transforms building operations and provides data access and control across all systems. From HVAC to water usage, this technology delivers unprecedented visibility into their facility’s processes.

Furthermore, through cloud technology, owners and managers can access their data remotely, ensuring they have visibility into operations no matter where they are and when they need it most.

Ensure context to give data meaning.

As important as it is for building owners and managers to have access to raw building data, it only provides a surface-level view of building operations. However, when coupled with context, this data can provide critical insights into processes and allow owners and managers to understand the full picture.

Once they’ve established this understanding, they can effectively leverage their data to make informed, strategic decisions regarding their smart building and equipment within.

For example, raw data from chillers at a hospital shows that the building is inexplicably requiring more energy for HVAC cooling systems between November and January. Without context, the hospital administration could safely assume that equipment might be inefficient or malfunctioning. But this data needs context for it to be truly understood.

By cross-referencing with patient traffic in those months, they can discover that patient volume was extremely high in the emergency room due to a bad flu season, thereby requiring extensive energy to cool the waiting room and surrounding spaces. With context, facility owners and managers are given data with meaning and can make intelligent decisions on behalf of their facilities. Ultimately, data can only be as smart as we are, and if we don’t connect the dots, we will never fully understand it.

Establish a strategy for data security.

The final step in the pursuit of data trustworthiness is ensuring building data is secure. When data is safe and uncompromised, facility owners and managers can trust that their data-based decisions are accurate and informed. To secure their data, owners, and managers can implement security measures such as two-factor authentication logins or back-up procedures and storage in case of data loss.

Additionally, a third-party professional can be brought in to audit the facility’s data security and search for potential gaps in the systems. Through these audits, owners and managers can better understand where their security systems need improvements and implement technologies and procedures to update their building and ensure their building data is safe and secure.

Trustworthy data powers informed decision-making.

When building data is trustworthy, the resulting decisions are credible too. By taking the necessary steps to transform their building and ensure transparent access digitally, context, and security for their data, facility owners and managers can be confident that their building’s data is trustworthy and delivering accurate insights.

With these insights, a company can continue to make informed decisions for long term performance and an improved building environment.

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As technology continues to improve, we’re seemingly able to control almost every aspect of our lives through smart devices we carry with us everywhere, such as our smartphones. Software applications that allow us to order transportation easily, access our home security cameras while on vacation and even pay bills during our commute. The same expectations of simple management and improved personalization are moving to the workplace environment.

Employees are looking for comfortable, convenient, and productive spaces in the workplace environment.

Building managers and owners want to meet the needs of their employees by delivering a comfortable and safe environment while ensuring efficient operations. No matter the building type – whether it be an office, hospital or municipal plant– these two objectives can be met.

Building efficiency features can lead to employee wellness and satisfaction through proper air circulation and temperature control, for example. With smart technology apps, a workplace environment co-managed by facility professionals and employees is possible.

Smarter technology for enhanced efficiencies and employee morale.

Before handing over building controls to employees, it’s important to ensure the proper mechanisms are in place to help monitor usage and building efficiencies. Connecting building systems – like HVAC, lighting and elevator controls – onto one interactive and easy-to-access enterprise management system. The system can help create a flexible, future-ready foundation for smarter technology integration and streamlined efficiency.

With an enterprise management system in place, smart building management apps can be deployed to allow employees control over their environment.

These apps can allow occupants to adjust building environment variables like heating, cooling and lighting to create their own perfect work setting that meets their unique needs. These apps can also be configured to allow conference room booking, locate colleagues within their building, and navigate to meeting rooms and other spaces. With these apps, employees are empowered to take control of their day-to-day workplace experience.

In addition to an improved management experience, enterprise management systems produce large volumes of valuable data, especially when transitioning to an employee-controlled environment.

Combining this wealth of data with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning offers an opportunity to analyze internal operations and uncover patterns in energy usage. Starting an employee-controlled environment project by first uniting building operations within an enterprise management system helps to ensure the facility is functioning at its most efficient capacity.

With granular insight into how equipment and technology are performing and being used, building managers can monitor how employee adjustments are impacting building performance. For example, if an employee consistently turns on lights but forgets to turn them off, managers can use this information to help correct the problem.

Why invest in employee-controlled environments?

Employers have a responsibility to their staff to deliver the best environment experience possible. For companies interested in boosting employee retention, offering more control over their environment can show a commitment to their wellbeing.

Caring about the needs and day-to-day wellness of employees by providing an enjoyable space can directly impact workplace productivity. It’s difficult to remain focused and motivated when you are working in an uncomfortable environment, whether that’s an uncomfortably cold office in the winter or under the blinding effects of fluorescent lights.

By giving occupants the power to control these factors by turning up the thermostat or dimming the lights using a smartphone app, they can create a space that is optimized for their personal productivity needs.

The marriage of building efficiency and employee satisfaction

Achieving building sustainability goals and improving employee satisfaction and productivity are common business objectives, but as building management technology continues to evolve, they’re no longer siloed.

With smart technology solutions, buildings can operate at peak efficiency while providing employees with the ability to optimize their own environments.

By investing in enterprise management systems and intelligent apps, buildings can become more than just a workplace – they can transform into a comfortable, productive, and sustainable environment for employees and employers alike.

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With vast amounts of data, smart buildings can play a huge role in energy consumption reduction. Building management has to control the aspects of energy consumptio,n especially with the growing number of energy regulations and certifications. But oftentimes enterprises turn to energy management considerations rather than taking an all-encompassing enterprise management view. You can get smarter about enterprise management with AI.

Switching to the approach of enterprise management is simple. The answer: convergence.

Making the transition.

The convergence of IoT, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning with building systems can help convert data and information about the building into actionable resources. Smart, connected buildings that implement enterprise management systems can collect data from the building’s energy-based assets – such as lighting, HVAC, air ventilation, elevators, room equipment, and more.

Enterprise management systems help collect, analyze, and convert energy data into insights that help building managers improve energy efficiency.

This enterprise-level approach even introduces more connected devices like fire alarms, security cameras, and motion sensors, so analyzing data can happen under one system, helping to maximize enterprise savings and ROI. With energy, IT, and security operations monitored under a comprehensive platform, data is more seamlessly and automatically collected.

When data from multiple systems is collected with manual analysis, desired results are scarce due to the variety, velocity, and sheer volume of data.

Manual changes are considered a Big Data problem. When technologies like machine learning and AI are implemented, they can help automate the data collection and analyzation process. Patterns can be identified easily, helping to forecast, predict, and optimize building operations and increase energy efficiencies. With this self-aware, self-regulated and optimized ability, smarting buildings can improve sustainability efforts and deliver a better occupant and operating experience.

The Benefits of AI.

AI is used to increase sustainability in several ways. It helps sort through all of the data to find patterns and identify trends, especially when buildings have to make predictions about future energy demand or consumption. Enterprise management systems that incorporate AI and analytics offer a granular look into how a building is being used and the energy its consuming, whether it by floor or employee. By monitoring building usage, AI can identify patterns and provide recommended actions to the building managers.

For example, if a conference room is not regularly used, building managers can implement schedules, so the lights don’t need to be consistently on throughout the day.

Leveraging AI can also help provide insights into other factors that could affect building energy consumption, including changes in weather, natural disaster, and building occupancy rate. AI considers all elements to identify faults and opportunities to them provide recommended action for how a building manager can address the situation or adapt for a predicted future occurrence.

Keeping Gen Z in Mind.

In the age of smart buildings and connected technologies, employees are empowered to create better environments for themselves. With enterprise management systems, employees can control their environment during the workday or after-hours. Whether looking to adjust the level of light or control the temperature in their workspace, employees can enhance their comfort and productivity for a customized experience.

Along with savings will be increased productivity and improved building operations.

By leveraging enterprise management systems and utilizing accompanying data, smart buildings and owners can reap the rewards of reduced energy costs. All actions toward better building enterprise management support sustainability efforts and enhancing decision making across the organization. This new wave of sustainability is causing building managers to look at how their tenants engage with facilities.

Work cultures are changing, and technology and younger demographics are bringing a lot of change. Younger generations, like Gen Z, work differently. They prefer more collaborative environments and having the flexibility to work remotely, whether it’s from home or a nearby coffee shop. 

The Path Toward Smarter Buildings Starts Today.

Smart buildings exist today but leveraging enterprise management systems is critical to the success of reducing energy costs, increasing the productivity of staff, improving building operations, supporting sustainability efforts and enhancing decision making across the organization.

When a business makes the transition to a more holistic management platform, their building’s ability to be self-aware, self-regulated, and optimized transforms it into a smarter building. That improves sustainability efforts and delivers a better occupant and operating experience.

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